Rich And White Doesn't Give You A License To Kill

October 19, 1995|By Mike Royko.

It has been pointed out to me that I recently overlooked an outstanding example of a wealthy white guy being convicted of murdering his wife.

These cases are worth looking at because so many of O.J. Simpson's admirers went on TV and said that it was about time that a black man beat the legal system since white men have been doing it for years.

But it appears that these O.J. faithful don't know what they're talking about.

Rich, poor or in the middle, husbands who kill wives seldom get away with it.

Of all murderers, they're just about the easiest to catch and convict because (a) they're the most obvious suspects and (b) they usually have a motive and (c) they are inexperienced criminals and slop clues all over the place and (d) many quickly confess.

You may have noted that O.J. neatly fits the a, b and c parts of this killer profile. Which means he's a lucky fellow to be out there swatting golf balls, smiling at the TV cameras and considering exploitation deals that will restore his millionaire status.

Far less lucky was Edward Lyng, who is sitting in prison and surely wondering what a guy has to do to get away with murder.

His is the case I overlooked last week when I wrote about a couple of other rich white wife slayers who were caught and convicted.

But Lyng's crime and his conviction are even more remarkable than the others.

Lyng was the wealthy owner of a vending machine company back in 1977. Then barely 40 years old, he had a big suburban house, an attractive wife and a couple of nice kids.

But, alas, the romance was gone. He also had a good-looking mistress. Such things happen, and his irate wife headed for Divorce Court.

Then one day, she vanished. Her abandoned car, the inside stained with blood, was found at O'Hare. But she was gone.

The cops figured Lyng killed her to avoid shelling out big bucks for a settlement, alimony and child support. And maybe he didn't care much for her anymore.

But the cops had several serious handicaps. They didn't know where her body was. It's always good to have a body in a murder case. They didn't have a murder weapon, either, which can be a problem.

And Lyng had an alibi. The woman who was his girlfriend said he was with her when the wife vanished.

So the years went by and Lyng-to use O.J.'s phrase-got on with his life.

The cops were sure he did it. His kids suspected that he did it. His wife's relatives were sure he did it. So did just about everyone who knew him and her.

But without a body, a weapon or even one tiny physical piece of evidence, all they could do was give him dirty looks.

Eventually, though, the romance went out of his affair with his mistress. And for some reason-a guilty conscience or being spurned-she finally told the cops what she knew.

She didn't know where the body was. Or the murder weapons. But she said that Lyng had told her he did the murder and she admitted that the alibi she had provided was a lie.

So 17 years after the wife disappeared, Lyng was finally charged with the crime and put on trial.

A betting man would have said he would beat the rap.

He had one of Chicago's best criminal defense lawyers. The body and weapons were still gone. And his ex-mistress had lied once before, so why should a jury believe her now?

But surprise, surprise, surprise. The jury spent two days deliberating. Quite a long time when you consider that there was no DNA, no bloody gloves, no Kato telling of bumps in the night, no limo driver, no abused wife's hysterical voice on a 911 tape.

Not much of anything, really, except a motive, a window of opportunity and the dubious testimony of an ex-mistress.

But the white cops and prosecutors offered their skimpy evidence, all those white jurors spent many hours deliberating toward a guilty verdict, and a white judge sent Lyng to prison.

All based on the most circumstantial evidence imaginable.

It must be the times we live in. A rich white guy just don't get no respect.